Spring Update 2024

Winter Works Programme 2023/2024

Championship and Littlestone Warren Golf Courses. Please find below details of our winter works programme.  This contains both regular works and projects.  

General Works - Championship Course

Greens & Surrounds - Deep tine aeration, 19mm solid tines, 12” depth.  Solid tine aeration, 8mm tines, 9” depth.  Slitting.  Light topdressing.  Liquid Iron, Potassium and Seaweed applications.

Tees - Deep tine aeration, 19mm solid tines, 10” depth. Slitting. Coring/scarifying of softer tees and topdressing. Liquid Iron applications

Fairways & Semi Rough - Deep tine aeration, 19mm & 12mm solid tines, 10” depth.  Regular slitting.  Semi rough mowing patterns to increase to 4 machine widths from 3 following flail & collect work

Native Rough & Waste Areas - Flailing & collecting in selected areas.  Control of coarse grasses/weeds.  Scrape worst waste areas with digger back to sand

Bunkers - Edging and sand reshaping.  Strimming & collecting of long rough around new style bunkers as required.  Lower bases in lined bunkers where necessary to maintain adequate sand depth over membrane.  Revett greenside bunkers @ 3, 10, 11, (5 in total) Some turf to come from new walkway area in grass carpark so some bunkers will be completed early.

Walkways and Paths - Top-dress shingle walkways with sand/soil mix to better bind the stone and mix in some Rye seed for extra stability

Practice Areas -  Repair irrigation to Practice chipping area.  Prepare driving range for winter use with cutting of rough

Littlestone Warren

• Greens & Surrounds - Solid tine aeration with 12mm tines to 8” depth.  Slitting. 
• Tees -  Solid tine aeration with 12mm tines to 8” depth. Slitting
• Fairways & Semi Rough - Slitting
• Native roughs - Flailing with some areas collected
• Bunkers - General maintenance

Winter Projects (In priority order)

Fairways

A large area of fairway surface is still struggling despite having had a wet summer. The drought last season was so severe that many of the affected areas have failed to recover.

The main issues we are experiencing are excessive thatch levels on the surface, clump forming grasses with gaps between and limited irrigation coverage. There are also areas which are struggling due to being on top of shingle banks with little to no soil to grow turf on.

While seeding into thatch is possible it is rarely successful as the thatch is quick to dry out and this normally means the end of any seedling establishment.

The clump forming grasses will not spread naturally and any gaps in the sward have to be sown into to maintain a full coverage of grass. Given that the seed must have soil contact to have any real chance of establishing we then have to either remove the thatch prior to seeding through hollow coring and/or scarification or create a seedbed in the soil below the thatch by solid tining.

Therefore, the process for this winter will be as follows:

• Hollowcore selected areas in-house
• Apply wetting agent ahead of seeding
• Overseed by spreader and drag in
• Feed after germination
• Continue wetting agent monthly in season 2
• Feed in spring of season 2

Championship

• Fairways – See above
• Reposition 10th waste area further to the right expanding width of current walkway
• Fill in majority of 12th sand waste area pulling in material 
• Renovate 14th tee complex and walkway up to red tee
• Renovate walkway from 17th green to 18th tee by creating level ramp with sleeper wall on left side and new steps on corner of tee 
• Enlarge LHS bridge on 11th to accommodate buggies/machinery

Littlestone Warren

• Fairways – See above
• Level and enlarge tees on Par 3s
• Install drainage on 4, 5, 6 

A secondary list of works has been approved subject to time/weather/budget.

Some of the proposed works are heavily weather dependant and this obviously may affect what is achievable.  While the works are largely prioritised in order of necessity, they are not in order in terms of potential weather patterns. A wet winter will severely impact work that involves moving soil for example. 

We hope this gives members a sense of the works to be undertaken and as always we thank Chris and his greenkeeping team for their hard work.

Kind Regards

David Mills

Club Secretary